Jüri Pootsmann to represent Estonia in Stockholm

05 March 2016 at 22:42 CET

Jüri Pootsmann won Eesti Laul 2016 Andres Putting (EBU)

Jüri Pootsmann has won the final of Eesti Laul, Estonia's national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest, with the song Play. After a first round of voting by both an expert jury and the public vote by telephone, three acts proceeded to a Super Final. In the second round it was all up to the televoters who chose Jüri Pootsmann as the winner with the song Play.

The top three

These were the three songs that went to the Super Final:

Jüri Pootsmann – Play (winner)
Laura - Supersonic (2nd)
Cartoon feat. Kristel Aaslaid - Immortality (3rd)

Gallery: The ten finalists

The show

The Estonian national selection, Eesti Laul was bigger than ever this year. 5300 people came to see the show in Saku Suurhall, presented by Ott Sepp and Märt Avandi. This is the same venue where the Eurovision Song Contest was held in 2002. In addition to this, the final was covered by almost 100 journalists.

During the show we also got to see a couple of interval acts enter the stage. One of them was the fifteen year old Finnish pop singer Isac Elliot. The evening also brought back a piece of the nineties through Maarja-Liis Ilus and Ivo Linna, who represented Estonia in 1996 Eurovision Song Contest. They celebrated their 20th anniversary of their participation, by singing their entry Kaelakee Hääl on stage.

Last year Estonia came 7th in the Grand Final of the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest. Now they will compete in the first Semi-Final in Stockholm on the 10th of May. Do you think Jüri Pootsmann will make it to the top?